While it was a big day for Victorian bred and sired horses at Caulfield on Saturday, the flag was flying proudly for the state at interstate meetings on the weekend.
After celebrating the success of Sun Stud’s stallion Fiorente with filly Florent scoring in the rich VOBIS Sires Guineas, the stud had more success in Sydney when another of its stallions – Ready for Victory – produced his first winner with Macleay at Kembla Grange.
Greyworm gave his sire, Master of Design, his second individual stakes winner with victory at Randwick on Saturday.
It was at the same meeting where Fender, by boom Swettenham Stud stallion Toronado, remained undefeated with three wins from three starts.
And Snitz, bred by Victoria’s Ken Breese, and consigned through the 2016 VOBIS Gold yearling Inglis Sale by Tas Rielley’s Basinghall Farm at Nagambie, won his fourth race in succession. The five-year-old gelding is out of Breese’s dual Group winning mare Tickle My and sold for $75,000.
Trainer Gerald Ryan said the two-year-old gelding Macleay, having its first start, shows plenty of promise for owners, Sun Bloodstock.
Sun Stud’s sales and nominations manager, Phil Marshall, said it had been a good weekend for the stud.
He said it was good to have one of their own horses winning in Sydney and Florent winning a big race at Caulfield.
“It was great Macleay won the maiden on debut for Ready For Victory,” he said.
“He was impressive too. He missed the kick and didn’t win by far but Gerald has got a good opinion of him and wanted to take him there to give him a nice easy win and then take him through the grades.
“But he is a really nice horse going forward and will make a lovely three year-old.”
Marshall admitted that Ready For Victory, who covered 61 mares last season, is at the bottom of Sun Stud’s roster and stood for a service fee of $6600.
“If he can get a few winners on the board it will help him in the long run,” Marshall said.
“It was a great training performance by Tony Noonan to back-up Florent but apparently it was always the plan.”
The Team Hawkes trained Greyworm, by Victorian stallion Master of Design, won the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes at Randwick.
The gelding had won three trials for Kris Lees and then was sold unraced for $110,000 on the Inglis Online Sale in January, 2018.
Airline captain Gary Liu, who purchased Joe and Daira Vella’s Wingrove Park Stud and renamed it Eden Park Stud, was the winning bidder and bought the grey with the intention of testing the Hong Kong market. But he finished racing the gelding which had three starts for Cranbourne trainer Mick Kent, for two wins and a third, before being transferred to the Hawkes camp.
Vella, who downsized to another horse property, is in the ownership of Greyworm.
Liu revealed he liked Master Design, which had stood at Greta West Stud after starting his stallion career with Swettenham Stud, so much that he bought him. He was still owned by Swettenham Stud and a syndicate of individual owners.
Liu said Greyworm had passed the vet check to go Hong Kong, but in the meantime they sent a different horse to Hong Kong.
“So we kept him and decided to race him and see how he goes,” Liu said.
“People always want trial winners in Hong Kong and although they were pretty eye-catching, even though they were at Newcastle, and that’s why we bought him. Another person who was bidding for him, I think it was a syndicate from Perth, bid $100,000 and then I went to $110,000 and that’s where he stopped.
“I think back them it was the highest price for a horse online.
“He wasn’t mature so as a three year-old he mightn’t have been any good to send to Hong Kong. He just needed to mature and then he just got better and better.”
Liu said it took about two years for him to negotiate the deal to buy Master of Design who has been at is property since January.
“We are only hobby breeders but if there are commercial interests, we will try our best to accommodate it,” he said.
“We have got a lot of friends who race and like to breed and if we can get 20 or 30 mares to him this year that will be great.”
Liu said he would keep Master of Design’s fee at around $3000. Master of Design got his first stakes winner last year when The Mitigator won New Zealand’s Group 3 Arc Eagle and then in January he won the Group 1 Thorndon Mile.
Master of Design only served 17 mares last year and Liu admits four or five of them belonged to him.
He has about 80 horses on the farm and about 37 of the broodmares are in foal and he owns most of them.
Eden Park Stud is also standing two other stallions – Glacial Gold (USA) and Diamond Tathagata.
“Glacial Gold is an albino stallion and my wife Hannah basically likes to breed for the colours,” he said.
“They are guaranteed buckskin or palomino horses. That’s her hobby which I support and I breed my horses to race.”
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